


A Leap of Faith

by winterune



Series: Daybreakers 2020 [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loneliness, Origin Story, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23110009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: You’ll be a good girl, OK, Ann?That was what her parents had said when they first left her alone in that empty house with only a caretaker as a company. She was 13. They had only just moved there several months ago when her parents’ work brought them back to Japan. For some reason, they had decided to leave her there while they held their vibrant fashion shows all around the world.(A brief look into Ann's life before she meets Shiho)
Relationships: Suzui Shiho & Takamaki Ann, Takamaki Ann & Takamaki Ann's Parents
Series: Daybreakers 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661095
Kudos: 14





	A Leap of Faith

**Author's Note:**

> My first try writing from Ann's POV. Originally, posted on my tumblr, I wrote this for the Daybreakers Month fandom event.  
> Week 1 prompt: Origin - Character: Ann Takamaki
> 
> Not really sure how this turned out, but I hope you enjoy :)

_You’ll be a good girl, OK, Ann?_

That was what her parents had said when they first left her alone in that empty house with only a caretaker as a company. She was 13. They had only just moved there several months ago when her parents’ work brought them back to Japan. For some reason, they had decided to leave her there while they held their vibrant fashion shows all around the world.

_So you don’t have to keep transferring schools, Ann._

They had never really asked her. Maybe, she preferred transferring schools to staying in a place that didn’t want her.

_You have Mayu here, and your father’s family._

But Mayu, her caretaker, was not her parents and her father’s family was not in Tokyo. Was it really so hard to understand?

_And maybe, after you finish high school, you can join us again._

Why couldn’t she join them now?!

Ann had sat there with them, in their new living room, when her mother first told her of their plans. She hadn’t asked to come. She had just nodded like the good girl she was, because she knew how important her parents’ works were for them. She had often come to those fashion shows, visited them in their studios or sets. She _loved_ seeing her parents work. So she had nodded and waved at them from the door when they had been about to leave for the airport. And maybe, those were tears she had seen in her mother’s eyes, but she hadn’t been sure. Still, she smiled because she hadn’t wanted her mother to worry, because, really, how hard could it be?

Mayu stayed by Ann’s side, even as the taxi had turned around the corner and gone out of sight; even as Ann stayed there, hand still halfway up in the air, staring at the horizon. A tiny pang slowly crept into her heart. Maybe… Maybe she should have said something.

“Ann-sama,” was Mayu’s quiet voice, bringing Ann back to her senses. She walked back inside while Mayu closed the door.

* * *

_How hard could it be?_

Yes, that had been what she had thought when her parents first left her, and she had truly believed it. It wasn’t like she had never been left alone before. Her parents’ work took most of their time away from her and Ann had grown accustomed to coming home to an empty house and eating take-outs by herself. Her life at school had mostly been all right, though there was that tiny fact that people tended to avoid her. She didn’t really under why. Whenever she tried to talk to them, she would often see forced smiles and nods and slowly, they would leave. She would hear snippets of conversations that interested her, or she would find a _manga_ or video game that she was into, but none of the kids at school ever let her into their circle.

And then, the rumors started—of herself stealing someone else’s boyfriend.

It had come to her as a shock when she found her shoe locker filled with trash to the brim, slurs and other sorts of profanities written and drawn on her desk.

“Who did this?” she had asked, but no one came forward.

Was it because of the love confession she had received one afternoon? Sometime after school a week ago, a boy had asked her to come to the spot behind the gym. An upperclassman she had never known before waited for her and asked her to be his girlfriend. Of course she refused. She didn’t know him, let alone liked him. Why would she accept such a thing?

But apparently, the guy was famous and had his own group of secret admirers at school. They called her one day to that same spot behind the gym, and shoved her against the wall.

“You think you’re some hotshot just because you have the looks and lived abroad?” the leader of the pack said.

“I never said I was,” Ann countered at the girl, another upperclassman she had never known before.

That earned her a slap. It was the first time she had ever been slapped and, in all honestly, Ann was shocked. Her cheek stung when she tried to touch it and tears sprang to her eyes.

The girl moved her face closer to Ann that Ann could see the contemptuous look on her face. “An outsider like you should know,” she quietly said, “that this is _our_ turf and you’re gonna have to play by _our_ rules.” Ann glared at her from the corner of her eyes and the girl sneered. “Keep having that attitude and see where it leads you, bitch.”

They left, before dousing her completely with cold and dirty water, their fading laughter grating her ears. Ann bit her lip and told her not to cry. _It’s all right,_ she told herself. _This’ll pass._ Her only respite was that she had PE lessons that day and had brought her gym clothes along.

* * *

Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, and the seasons changed from winter to spring and Ann found herself in a new school year with cherry blossoms blooming all around. Ann stood in front of the bathroom mirror one day, staring at the natural blond hair she had come to hate. The hair dye stood just a few inches away. Would everyone accept her if her hair was black and her eyes brown?

She had grabbed the bottle and poised it over her head, but…she just couldn’t do it. Not when her parents had always said how much they loved it. What would they say if they came home and found their daughter’s hair short and black? Ann dropped the hair dye and fell to her knees. She hated herself—hated herself to be so weak, to have let what people said get to her. Why did she have to change herself to conform to other people’s wishes? Why did she have to let them win?

As though she knew that Ann needed to hear her voice, her mother called that night. Her room was dark, her curtains closed. She hadn’t felt like eating dinner and so had locked herself up in her room for the rest of the evening. But then her smart phone rang and her mother’s name appeared. Longing to hear her voice overpowered any sort of stupid reasonings Ann had come up with not to answer the call, so she picked it up, and put the phone to her ear. The sound of her mother’s voice immediately made her want to cry.

They talked about anything and everything—simple, mundane things, like school and the house and life altogether. Then her mother asked about Mayu, and Mayu was the best. Ann meant that. Her caretaker was a quiet presence in the house who gave her any sort of solid ground to stand. When Ann went home soaked to the bone that February, she hadn’t asked anything—hadn’t berated her nor scolded her. She had probably only let out a quiet gasp, before ushering her inside and preparing her a long, warm bath. And she had stayed beside her as Ann cried to her shoulder.

Her parents were in France for some fashion show to be held on June. Ann could hear distant voices talking in French. Her mother had to still be at work now.

 _When are you coming home_ , she wanted to ask, even though she knew her parents had just come to Japan that spring break. _Can I come with you? I want to come with you._

There was a long pause, but when her mother spoke next, Ann stopped breathing.

“Is everything all right, Ann?”

How did she know? She wasn’t supposed to know. Ann had carefully kept any emotion from seeping into her voice, but somehow, her mother just asked her the question she had wanted to hear.

Ann felt a lump in her throat as her heart crushed under invisible weight. She started crying, a quiet thing at first that turned to hiccups and uncontrollable sobs. Her mother panicked and was calling her name over and over again. _No, baby. Baby, what’s wrong? Ann, talk to me, honey._ But Ann shook her head, as she tried to regain her voice because her crying wouldn’t stop.

“I’ll finish work soon,” her mother said. “Then I’ll take the earliest flight to Japan—”

“No, mom,” Ann finally croaked, cutting her mother off. “I’m fine. I’m all right. I just—” She racked her brain for some reason she could use, “—I burned my hand when I was helping Mayu cook dinner.” It was a lame excuse, and her mother probably didn’t buy it. “I’m all right, really. Don’t…don’t leave your work just for my sake.”

Her mother didn’t buy it, as she had thought, but she still played along. She promised Ann that after her work in France was done, she would go back to Japan and be with her.

* * *

Some more time passed and it was a week before summer vacation started. Ann had learned to ignore the slurs and whispers directed at her, learned to plug her ear when she needed to, learned to look down at her feet when she walked, learned to not look people in the eye. If she made her presence small enough, people might leave her be. That was, until an art class one afternoon, when she was drawing by herself in a corner where no one would bother her. A voice behind her startled her.

“Takamaki-san.” It was one of the girls in class, her black hair tied back, her eyebrows drawn as she stared at Ann’s drawing. Shiho Suzui, she thought her name was. They were supposed to draw the objects displayed at the front of the class—a simple plate of fruits on a table.

“What?” Ann said, drawing up her guards.

“Oh, uh, nothing, just that…” Shiho paused, glancing briefly at Ann. “Your drawing sucks.”

Ann was stunned. She should have been furious and mortified at being told bluntly like that in the middle of class, but it was the first time anyone had ever struck a conversation with her that didn’t involve any sarcasm or personal insults. After getting past her initial surprise, Ann found herself laughing, then caught herself before the teacher heard her and covered her mouth with a hand.

Shiho stared at her incredulously, which made Ann want to laugh even more.

“Sorry, just that, you’re the first person who’s ever said that.”

Shiho snorted a laughter. “Seriously?”

Well, no one had ever really paid attention to her drawing before. Ann shrugged.

“Good thing you know that now then,” she went on. “Can’t see you ever getting a good grade in art.”

“Trust me, I never.”

The two girls snickered quietly.

She was a quiet girl who didn’t stand out very much, and she was smiling at her—a genuine smile, not those sneers or smirks she had gotten used to. And she had offered Ann a normal conversation. Maybe it was all right. Maybe Ann could take that leap of faith.

She smiled and said, “You can just call me Ann, Suzui-san.”

And she waited, with bated breath, for that sneer to appear. But it didn’t. What she found instead was a familiar smile, sincere, with a hint of a giggle underneath. “And you can call me Shiho, Ann.”

**~ END ~**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading ^^ Felt like I could've done something to make this better, and maybe make the ending feel smoother and not too abrupt, but currently, I don't have the time nor energy to edit my works, so here it is :) Hope you liked it! Please leave a comment or two if you like. I'd like to know what you think :D Thank you!


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